This invention relates to a clothing combination comprising a shirt and a pair of pants wherein the shirt and the pair of pants are fastened together by a self-releasing bond. More particularly, this invention relates to a clothing combination that comprises a shirt and a pair of pants fastened together by at least one hook and loop fastening mechanism.
In the art of dress clothing, which includes both business and formal wear, appearance is a principal factor governing consumer selection. Successful products must remain taught over the body to convey professionalism. At the same time, successful products do not exaggerate, and hopefully alleviate, physical imperfections of the wearer, such as an expansive stomach. This is a delicate balance that is difficult to achieve.
In example, if one has an expansive stomach, it is desirable to firmly attach a shirt to a pair of pants at or near the region of the belly button. However, securing a pair of pants this high on the wearer is problematic using conventional fasteners such as belts. Gravity and the natural pulling forces of the lower body in motion pull the belt down to the wearer""s waist. Additionally, no matter how tightly the belt is secured, the shirt eventually crepes out of the pants and requires retucking.
Appearance is also a major concern in the art of sports clothing. However, in the art of sports clothing comfort is equally important in swaying consumers to choose one set of garments over another. Because comfort plays such a critical role in purchaser selection, fastening devices that attach sport shirts to sport pants are considered undesirable. In example, it is generally accepted that belts constrict an athletes flexibility and, therefore, sport pants are not sold with belts and do not generally contain belt loops.
However, despite the deficiency of belts as fasteners in both the dress clothing art and the sports clothing art, acceptable alternatives, to date, have not been apparent. Fastening devices other than belts are considered undesirable for use in attaching a shirt and pair of pants because the devices do not self-release in a reusable manner when subjected to a tensile or shearing force strong enough to tear one of the garments. Instead the fastening devices rip away. Even worse, because the fastening devices are sewn into the garments, the garments can be torn when the fastening devices rip away. In example, hooks, buttons and zippers do not self-release in a manner that leaves them reusable when they are subjected to a tensile or shearing force strong enough to rip the garments. Instead hooks, buttons and zippers rip away, rendering the fastening device useless and often tearing the garments in the process.
Snaps can self-release in a reusable manner when subjected to a tensile or shearing force strong enough to rip the garments, but only when said force is at an appropriate angle. Otherwise, as with hooks, buttons and zippers, the snaps and surrounding material tear away. More importantly, snaps have the disadvantage of providing a weak attachment that is easily undone by the small vibrational forces inherent to physical exertion.
In addition, the metal materials from which most snaps and many buttons and zippers are made are not water and chemical resistant. As a result the fasteners rust and become unsightly.
Finally, all of the previously mentioned fastening devices are made from hard plastic or metal materials that are not readily dyeable in the same dying step and by the same dying means as the garments. Fastening devices must be colored separately, by using paint, colored fillers, or some other means, in a manner that matches the garment to which they are to be attached. Otherwise, the fastening devices are readily apparent to the viewer and detract from the overall appearance of the garment.
For all of the above stated reasons, the art teaches away the use of fasteners other than belts to secure a shirt to a pair of pants. However, it would still be desirable to fasten a shirt to a pair of pants if a suitable fastening means could be found. Fastening a shirt and pair of pants together, whether by means of suspenders or belts or some other device, has long been recognized as the ideal way to maintain the ideal aesthetic appearance of the garments. This is especially true when the shirt is tucked taught into the pair of pants. In fact, the NBA now requires its athletes to keep their uniform shirts tucked into their uniform pants at all times. Other professional and amateur sports associations may have or adopt similar rules. Furthermore, in the business community, it goes without saying that dress shirts are always tucked into suit or dress pants. In addition, fastening the shirts and pants together provides a means of controlling the manner in which the garments relax, thereby allowing the manufacturer, or the wearer, to tailor the fall of the garments in a manner deemed most comfortable and most suitable for a given physical activity.
What is needed is a better way to fasten a shirt to a pair of pants.
What is needed is a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants in a taught manner that does not call attention to the physical imperfections of the wearer.
What is needed is a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that does not restrict flexibility.
What is needed is a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that self-releases in a reusable manner when subjected to a tensile or shearing force strong enough to rip one of the garments.
What is needed is a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that is not easily undone by the small vibrational forces inherent to physical exertion.
What is needed is a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that is water and chemical resistant.
What is needed is a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that is readily dyeable in the same dying step as the fabric.
In the early 1940""s, Swiss inventor George de Mestral went on a walk with his dog and noticed that both his pants and his dog returned covered with cockle burrs. His curiosity led him to view the burrs under a microscope whereupon he discovered that they contained a natural hook-like shape. The hook-like shape easily clung to the woven loops in his nylon pants and the tangled hairs on his dog. This became the basis for a unique two-sided fastenerxe2x80x94one side of which contains stiff hooks, like the burrs, and the other side of which contains soft loops, like the fabric of the pants and tangled hairs of the dog. Mestral decided to market this new hook and loop fastening system under the name VELCRO(trademark) taken from the french words xe2x80x9cvelour,xe2x80x9d meaning velvet, and xe2x80x9ccrochet,xe2x80x9d meaning hook. Today there are many companies which produce this type of fastening system, called a hook and loop fastener or a touch fastener. However, VELCRO(trademark) produced by Velcro Industries B.V. remains the most prominent product.
Hook and loop fasteners have been used in the clothing industry for a variety of purposes. In example, hook and loop fasteners have been used as an alternative to shoe laces. In further example, hook and loop fasteners have been used as a means for attaching articles to sport clothing, such as attaching hand towels to baseball uniforms so that athletes can remove sweat without coming in from the field.
For a variety of reasons, Hook and loop fasteners are an ideal way to attach a pair of pants to a shirt. For example, the material make-up of hook and loop fasteners does not restrict flexibility. Hook and loop fasteners are typically made out of nylon and/or polyester polymers. These polymers are often used to make clothing and bend in the same manner as clothing. Thus hook and loop fasteners are flexible.
In addition, hook and loop fasteners can be made small enough to minimize inflexibility due to the size of the fastener. In fact, an effective bond can be made from a hook and loop fastener that has a thickness, width and length, as little as xc2xdxe2x80x3 or even less. The narrow thickness is especially important in lessening the chances that the fastener will hinder movement.
Hook and loop fasteners are adjustable by manipulating the size and location of the surface area wherein the hook and loop strips contact. Therefore, if a hindrance to movement occurs, the fastener can be adjusted to minimize the hindrance.
Most importantly, the bonds provided by hook and loop fasteners self-release in a reusable manner when subjected to a tensile and/or shearing forces strong enough to tear one of the garments. The hook strips and loop strips pull apart but remain unbroken, allowing later contact to reform the self-releasing bond. This allows the shirt and/or pant maximum movement when subjected to severe forces and, thereby, minimizes the chances that the shirt and/or pair of pants will tear. As stated, this is not the case with existing shirt-pants fastening means, such as buttons, hooks and zippers.
However, the bonds provided by hook and loop fasteners are also capable of withstanding the small vibrational forces inherent to physical exertion. In fact, such vibrational forces actually increase the strength of the bond because it causes the hooks to move deeper into the loop entanglements. This makes hook and loop fasteners a vast improvement over snaps.
In addition, hook and loop fasteners are made of nylon and/or polyester. Both nylon and polyester are water resistant, chemical resistant and dyeable using conventional clothing dyes. Thus hook and loop fasteners do not rust and are readily dyeable in the same dying step and by the same manner as the pair of pants and/or shirt.
Utilizing hook and loop fasteners, a shirt, such as a dress shirt, can be tucked taught inside a pair of pants, such as a pair of suit pants; without creping out and requiring retucking. The hook and loop fasteners, because they are sewn into the clothing can be firmly affixed above the waistline at or near the belly button to enable a wearer to present a neat appearance that, simultaneously, hides physical imperfections such as an expansive stomach.
Thus the use of hook and loop fasteners to attach a shirt to a pair of pants gives all of the aesthetic and control benefits of a fastening device without any of the drawbacks typically encountered when the clothes are worn by the modern day businessman, businesswoman and athlete.
A clothing combination has been created comprising a pair of pants and a shirt that are bound together in a taught manner using a self-releasing bond such as the bond created using hook and loop fasteners. The clothing combination has the flexibility, vibration strength, and weather resistance needed to serve the needs of the business and sporting communities.
The clothing combination comprises a pair of pants having front and back side, an inner and outer surface, a pant waistline, a waistband that encompasses the pant waistline, and one or more pant connecting strips affixed to the waistband. The clothing combination also includes a shirt having a front and back side, an inner and outer surface, a shirt waistline, a waist zone that encompasses the shirt waistline and one or more shirt connecting strips affixed to the waist zone. The pant and shirt are connected, or capable of being connected, through self-releasing bonds that are formed whenever said pant connecting strips are brought into contact with said shirt connecting strips.
In addition, the instant invention embraces multicomponent kits for making said clothing combination. The first multicomponent kit comprises a pair of pants or a shirt with preattached connecting strips, unaffixed adhesive connecting strips and, optionally one or more templates. The second multicomponent kit comprises several unaffixed adhesive connecting strips and one or more templates. In both kits, the templates guide the wearer in applying the unaffixed adhesive connecting strips to create a clothing combination that can be bound together with a self-releasing bond.
Finally, the instant invention is to a process for making said clothing combination.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants.
It is an object of this invention to provide a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants in a taught manner that does not call attention to the physical imperfections of the wearer.
It is an object of this invention to provide a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that does not hinder flexibility.
It is an object of this invention to secure a shirt to a pair of pants by a means that self-releases in a reusable manner when subjected to a tensile or shearing force strong enough to rip one of the garments.
It is an object of this invention to produce a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that is not easily undone by the small vibrational forces inherent to physical exertion.
It is an object of this invention to provide a means for fastening a shirt to a pair of pants that is water and chemical resistant.
It is an object of this invention to secure a shirt to a pair of pants by a means that is readily dyeable in the same dying step as the shirt and/or pair of pants.